Police tape was put up Monday in a Northmoor/Riverside strip mall while police searched for a fleeing suspect whom the Northmoor police chief shot after the man took off in his patrol car. Matt Campbellmcampbell@kcstar.com

Police tape was put up Monday in a Northmoor/Riverside strip mall while police searched for a fleeing suspect whom the Northmoor police chief shot after the man took off in his patrol car. Matt Campbellmcampbell@kcstar.com

Man who fled after Northmoor police chief shot him is captured

The Missouri Highway Patrol said law enforcement officers have captured a man who was shot by the Northmoor police chief after the man drove off in the chief’s patrol car during an arrest around 4 p.m. Monday.

The man was captured about 6 p.m., according to a patrol spokesman, in a wooded area where he had been hiding. Authorities in Platte County had been searching the area with police dogs.

The patrol did not name the man because he has not yet been charged. A spokesman for the agency described him as a 23-year-old Kansas City man. He had suffered a minor gunshot wound in one arm, the patrol said.

The incident began when the man allegedly tried to pass a bad check at a Northland pawn shop, according to the patrol. Police were called, and the man was arrested, handcuffed and placed into the patrol car.

The man managed get into the driver’s side of the patrol car and briefly drive away.

According to the patrol, the man had been handcuffed with his hands behind his back and apparently managed to get his hands in front of him while still handcuffed. How he did that is still under investigation.

According to the patrol, the man drove toward the police chief, who fired several shots at the fleeing driver.

The man lost control of the car and crashed into a pole. He then jumped out of the patrol car and ran into a wooded area near Riverside. Authorities found blood inside the patrol car.

The search, in a heavily wooded area, included several police agencies.